Montrose has been granted $18,000 from the Vision Zero granting stream to help make village streets safer for all.
The money will be used toward monitoring high-traffic-volume streets with a new portable speed reader, collecting data from six previously identified high risk locations and installing portable speed humps/signage at the highest risk streets.
This is the second year the province has been awarding Vision Zero grants, which are aimed to make roads safer.
“Safe and equitable road access for all road users is critical to the well-being of people in rural, remote and Indigenous communities,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, in a Tuesday news release. “That’s why the Vision Zero in Road Safety Grant program is so important. By supporting local road-safety improvements, we can help prevent injuries and save lives, while making active transportation more accessible in our communities and preventing burden on the health-care system.”
More than $1 million in grants has been distributed to 59 B.C. communities this year. Projects include improved crosswalk infrastructure, traffic calming, speed-limit reduction pilot projects, speed-reader boards, improved lighting, road-safety planning and more.
Organizations receive as much as $20,000 per project. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure provided $600,000. Regional health authorities contributed additional funding to maximize the number of applications funded within communities.
Funding is provided through regional health authorities to local governments, Indigenous communities and governments and non-governmental organizations, such as school districts and road safety advocacy groups, to support them to plan and implement projects that will directly improve the safety of the roads in their communities. A dedicated stream of the program is for Indigenous communities and governments to set and direct their own road-safety priorities.
“Vision Zero grants are making roads in rural, remote and Indigenous communities safer for everyone who relies on them for school, work or to visit family,” said Rob Fleming, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. “Projects like improved crosswalks, traffic-calming measures and safety planning help prevent dangerous driving, giving people confidence and keeping communities safely connected.”
By adopting Vision Zero, the province says it is committed to action to decrease deaths and serious injuries on B.C. roads.
Road injuries and deaths are a significant cause of health-care system usage and impact patient and health-system capacity, while resulting in more than $300 million in direct health-care costs each year.
In its inaugural year (2022), Vision Zero granted $564,000+ to 32 communities province-wide.
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